Holding Jennifer's Oscar at the
Norton Simon Museum (Oct. 2010)
This website was created back in 1998, around the time when celebrity fan sites first started to appear on the Internet. I'm amazed and gratified that I've been able to maintain it for 18 years now and it is great to still hear from fans of Jennifer Jones.
My interest (obsession??) with Jennifer began way back in the late 1970s when I was a high school student and first discovered classic films. The only way to see them back in those days was on late night television. I was intrigued by Jennifer before I had seen any of her films. I first saw her in a book in my school library and was fascinated by her photo, her story and her varied range of work. I first saw "Duel In The Sun" one night and wasn't satisfied until I had tracked down all of her films. The VCR came along but still it was no easy feat to track them down. Some of her more obscure ones (like "The Idol" and "We Were Strangers") were sent to me in the mail on inferior copies but that was better than not seeing them at all. It took around 15 years to finally see all of them (and she only made 24!). My favorite Jones film is "Madame Bovary" with perhaps "Portrait of Jennie" and "Cluny Brown" vying for a close second. She made some wonderful films and some flawed films but she is always a fascinating actress to watch and one of the most beautiful ever to grace the silver screen.
In 2010, one year following her death, I had the opportunity to fly to Hollywood and attend a tribute to Jennifer Jones at the Norton Simon Museum. In addition to attending a screening of "The Song of Bernadette", I had the extraordinary experience of meeting the exceedingly gracious Robert Walker, Jr. and his lovely wife Dawn. Oh yeah and I got to hold Jennifer's Oscar! It was an experience that I will cherish and I must thank
Carrie (who runs the excellent Robert Walker website) for organizing everything.
I suppose my profession (a librarian) motivates me to gather and share information with others. Finding information has not always been an easy task. She was about as private as Garbo when it came to her career and private life. (Most of the information on this site comes from the sources listed here.)
Most of the gallery materials come from my own personal collection, fellow fans, or
from the Internet. If you'd like to contribute or clarify anything you read or see here, please let me know.
I hope you enjoy this site as much as I've enjoyed creating and maintaining it.
Phillip Oliver
July 2016
